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Left alone as the world's only super power, the American politcical and economic leadership. along with everyday citizens have acted in an arrogant, self delusional manner of excess and now the correction is in it's early stages. The reality is nothing else would have made us change our ways of economic , political and military hubris other than the shock just now happening; we were simply too sure of our invincibility in all matters and in this George W. Bush is the perfect man to have led our nation to it's present predicament. If we survive, we'll come out of this a better, more humble nation; if not, then we will not be missed and will simply be thrown onto the historical scrap heap of failed empires and gotten there by the same sorry path of ignorance, arrogamce, hubris and overreach in all matters economic, political and military.

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Re: michael nola Please understand that not all everyday citizens have acted in an arrogant, self-delusional manner of excess. If all I had to do was sell my second home and my boat, and yes skip the trip to Europe, and of course trade in the larger SUV, all because of the bad economy, life would be good. But not all Americans live this lifestyle and surely you must understand that the majority of real, everyday citizens will be the first to suffer; men, women, and children. I only hope that we are indeed at our very best when things are at their very worst. Compassion.

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Re: Dee I never said all Americans act in this manner, but as a group we do. How else would you explain the fact the U.S.A., both government and general public borrows $3 billion dollars a day, each and every day to support all you see around you. Most of this borrowed from foreigners, by the way. Being 61 years old and a father, I am not happy about the situation our country is entering but the ethos of extreme materialism is so apparent to those of us raised in earlier times; all my friends thought I was a fool not to take the equity out of my home and buy the latest must have gadget. In their words, "Let the house pay for it", as though home values would increase 10% a year forever as some God given right. Making our ethos of heroic consumption even worse is the fact that most of what we buy is made overseas thus the money does not circulate here so as to employ our fellow Americans. For the last 25 years we've been buying more and more from overseas, sending money and jobs out of the country, this is not a policy that is sustainable and is one of the many reasons for our economic distress of today: 25 years ago we were a creditor nation,we are now the largest debtor nation the world has ever seen and yet we spend more on our military (not counting Iraq and Afghanistan) than the rest of the world combined. Sheer insanity unless you're trying to militarily dominate this planet, which of course, we are. The fix is easy to prescribe; simply cut military spending 30%, end our ceaseless wars, change tax and trade policies to benefit the average American and spend the money on education, health care for all and protecting this planet that nurtures us; the political will is the hard part, however. That's compassion.